While her book Up Home may be set in the one of Canada’s most important black communities, author Shauntay Grant‘s story is universal. As noted in the jacket flap, the book celebrates growing up and remembering our roots.

On this edition of Just One More Book!!, Mark speaks with Shauntay Grant about turning a spoken word performance piece into a children’s book, the role of verse in children’s literature and sharing the experience of growing up.

It’s exciting to hear about a spoken word piece becoming a children’s book, and I agree with Ms. Grant that there’s not a lot of difference between story and poetry and songs. It’s neat to hear about black Canadians as well, and look forward to finding her book.